Dirty Paws
by SimonDoesn'tSay
Summary: In the Enchanted Forest the Queen issues an order for the Huntsman to find her a young boy to help steal a weapon she intends to use to bring down Snow White. Rated T for now..
1. Chapter 1

_I don't own Once Upon A Time, if I did Emma would be shacked up with a Huntsman by now.. _

* * *

**Enchanted Forest - Pre Curse**

The Huntsman began his usual, slow saunter back to his chambers after guarding one of the many hallways in the Palace, crossing his fingers that he may be blessed with an uninterrupted night. The only thing that broke up the emptiness of his captivity was the precious moments alone where he could close his eyes and escape back to the forest; back home. Sometimes, if he felt game, he would sneak out to one of the unguarded terraces near the top of the Palace and stare out into the forest he missed all too much. It was one of the only places in the Palace that he could tolerate, that he could feel at peace.

However, only half way back to his chambers he was stopped by the forceful hand of a guard thrashed against his chest. He halted and stared up at the guard with a look of irritation and anger, a look only reserved for the people who didn't have the power to flog or thrash him for disobedience.

"The Queen requests your presence in the receiving chamber, now"

The Huntsman resisted the urge to sigh and roll his eyes, he settled for roughly pushing the guards hand away before setting off briskly in the direction of the receiving chamber. Once he knew he was out of sight, he slowed down to a leisurely pace, deliberately trying to put off seeing the Queen. It was small acts of defiance that kept him sane, he knew deep down that the Queen could never truly own him, not his spirit anyway. So he would constantly find small, inconspicuous ways to defy her; in those moments he felt free. However, all too quickly he found himself walking past the hall of mirrors and into the receiving chamber where he found the Queen in her usual spot, sitting by her mirror writing into something at her desk.

"You requested to see me your Majesty?" He announced himself.

The Queen merely glanced up to see him in the reflection of her mirror before continuing her writing. A few minutes passed before she stood and faced him, a small smile crept upon her face. The same smile she usually donned when looking at her favourite pet, the same smile that haunted the Huntsman's dreams and sent a shiver down his spine.

"Yes dear" she purred as she surveyed him. "I have a rather delicate task I require you for."

"What would that be, your Majesty?" The Huntsman asked gently, careful not to anger her. He didn't need any more bruises today for speaking out of line.  
_  
_She began to wander around him as he stayed put, hands behind his back and staring straight ahead, as he was trained to do.

"I need a small child around the age of 10" She stated bluntly as she circled him, "One that will be able to perform a very important task, this task will be the undoing of Snow White"

_Snow White_, the name immediately grabs his attention and he can feel himself tensing up with fear for her fate. Thankfully the Queen doesn't notice, and instead continues with her orders.

"This task must be handled with the upmost care, that is why, dear Huntsman, I require you"

She stops in front of him, her hand beginning to stir from her side and creep towards his chest.

"Because I know that you are aware of the ramifications of failing me when it comes to Snow White" She warns as she scrapes her nail over his leather shirt where his heart used to lay.

The Huntsman clears his throat and responds; his voice shaking slightly as he internally contemplates the answer to his next question,

"Yes, Your Majesty I do, what is it you want me to do for you?"

"I need you to go to the nearest village and find me a suitable child for this mission, bring him or her back to me" The Queen answers as she stares into the eyes of her pet.

"What about the child's parents?" He questioned her

"Well I'm sure you can be quite creative if they put up a fight" She stated impatiently, slightly aggravated by the defiance in his voice.

That statement struck the Huntsman quite hard. He didn't want to take a child from their parents. Even though he didn't quite care for humans, much less parents of any sort, he didn't want to impart his childhood pain and loneliness onto a child, nor the grief of losing a child onto the parents.

The Queen could tell the Huntsman wasn't happy with her request so she roughly grasped his chin between her thumb and index finger and brought her face close to his.

"As I'm sure you remember Huntsman you do not have a lot of say in this matter. You will go to the village, you will fetch me a child and you will bring it back here. And if I am to endure any sort of pathetic disobedience or insolence from you about this there will be harsh discipline. Understood?" The Queen spat at the Huntsman, venom dripping off of her words.

"Yes" - " your Majesty" He quickly added before the Queen roughly pushed his head away and sauntered back to her desk. These were the moments he felt like he belonged to her. Because even though he'd love to bite back some rebellious remark, he couldn't bring himself to. Even though he rarely admitted it to himself, this woman frightened him.

"I expect this task to be completed by tomorrow evening dear, you will find what you need in your chambers. Leave immediately" She called over her shoulder as she sat back down.

The Huntsman bowed and turned to exit before he was halted by her words again.

"Oh and Huntsman, you stray from the path or do not come back before sunset tomorrow and I will take out your miserable heart from that box and make you wish you were never born. That is all" She spoke slowly and deliberately, eyeing the Huntsman in the reflection of her mirror.

He could hear the amusement in her voice as he winced at her words and exited from the chamber.

* * *

_First upload, please chuck a quick review if you'd like me to continue. Other characters will come into this story, (mainly Snow White) Because I feel like their friendship was something lacking hugely on the show. The next chapter will move to Storybrooke... hopefully it's okay.._


	2. Chapter 2

_Hello! Sorry this took so long to put up. I have had a bit of trouble with the structure of the story. Basically I've decided to just stick to the Enchanted Forest at this point because I think having the crossover will be too complicated. If this story goes alright and you would like me to post a second story, I'll put up the Storybrooke crossover up afterwards. Thankyou to those who followed/favourite/reviewed. That was a lovely surprise (Keep that coming)  
_

* * *

**Enchanted Forest - Pre Curse:**

The Huntsman left the receiving chamber contemplating how he was going to get out of performing such a heinous task for the Queen. He decided he'd need a miracle to avoid taking the boy away from his family as he knew for a fact that the Queen wouldn't react well to the Huntsman failing her, or even worse; defying her.

He made his way to his own small chambers, collected his belongings and set off for the nearest village happy to be back in the forest; even if it was to complete a terrible task. Soon enough he found himself on the outskirts of the village. He contemplated turning around now, using his knife to cut his own throat, to find a river to drown in, a cliff to jump off or just to run and hope the Queen would squeeze his heart too hard and he'd gain his freedom. He knew however that the Queen would let none of those things happen to him; that would be too kind. His fate for defying her would be far worse. He shuddered at the thought and the memories of previous examples and turned his attention back to the task at hand.

He gave the village a quick scan trying to find out where he was even going to start looking for a child. His eyes fell upon a small boy around about the age of ten helping his mother hang the washing. He had dark blonde hair, brown eyes and lanky, bony little legs; no doubt from the lack of money the Queen gave the village to feed themselves. He rolled his eyes and cursed under his breath at the thought of her selfishness, but quickly got rid of those feelings. He had to remain loyal; he had to not think about any of that if he had any hope of completing this task and maybe having a peaceful week without punishments.

He decided that the best thing to do was get it over and done with; and with that he marched right up to the house, stood behind the woman and child and cleared his throat.

"Madam, I'm here under direct orders from the Queen. I am to take your son for a very important mission for the Kingdom." The Huntsman stated absentmindedly, not believing a word of what he just said himself.

The woman stood there in disbelief and fear. She didn't move a muscle or say anything until the Huntsman went to grab the boy's arm.

"Mama" the boy pleaded, tears beginning to run down his crimson cheeks. She immediately slapped his hand away holding the boy firmly. "No! You cannot take him." She shouted loudly, the tremor of fear present in her voice. The Huntsman knew he'd have to be quick as villagers were starting to notice the disturbance. He knew he could take on maybe one or two but not a whole village. As much as it pained him to do so; he pulled out his knife and pointed it at her. "Hand over the boy now, or you will both die." He stated robotically, hating himself more and more with every word he spoke.

The mother gripped her son's shoulders firmly as tears ran down her face.

"Please don't do this, he's all I have. You can't – you just can't – please" She begged, clearly defeated and desperate.

The Huntsman picked up the boy who was now trashing against him and threatened the woman once more with his knife. He bound the child's hands so that he wouldn't escape and made his way out of the village quickly, hoping that he could explain to the boy how sorry he was and that he'd try to ensure his safety as best he could.

A couple minutes into the trip back to the castle the Huntsman could sense he was being followed. The boy was still walking beside him sobbing silently with his wrists bound and the Huntsman's firm grasp on his shoulder. The Huntsman kept scanning the trees for movement but couldn't find anyone. He was sure it was a villager come to rescue the boy. He made a move for his knife as he heard a twig break but was too slow to respond as the attacker charged at him causing him to fall to the ground onto his stomach and his knife to fall in front of him. The boy stood watch as his kidnapper was attacked. As the Huntsman reached forward to grab his knife, the attacker sliced his arm. He retracted his arm quickly and cradled it in pain as he was turned over and pinned down with a knife at his throat. The attacker tore the Huntsman's helmet off and for the first time he got a look at his attacker.

Snow White.

* * *

_There we go, again chuck us a review if you have any suggestions or comments; that'd be appreciated. Hopefully I'll update quicker that way too! _


	3. Chapter 3

_I got a bit carried away so here's chapter three. Let me know what you think..._

* * *

"Huntsman?"

"Snow?"

The silence was broken by the sound of quiet sobbing. Both Snow and the Huntsman remembered the little boy, who was at this point, crouched down by a tree, covering his face with his still bound hands.

"What the hell are you doing with this child Huntsman?" Snow asked angrily as she tightened her grip on the knife still against his throat.

"Snow, it's not what you think. Listen, the Queen, she ordered me to go get the boy. I have no choice"

"But why are you still working for her? I thought you left her when you spared me."

The Huntsman proceeded to tell Snow about the ramifications of his good deed towards her. He told her about the deer's heart, he told her about the letter and that the Queen tore it up and threw it in the fire, he then told her about his own heart and how it had been ripped from him.

"You see, if I defy her or try to run away she threatened to kill me. However, she's never done so. I've both tried to escape and defy her in every way but she never kills me, just makes me wish she would. I want nothing more than to return this boy to his family Snow, you must believe me." The Huntsman was at this point pleading with Snow. Because no matter what the Queen did to him, no matter how far she pushed him and no matter how much he begged for death; he never regretted sparing Snow. In those moments of hopelessness it was her face that he saw, it was her face that got him through. He knew that whatever torture he was enduring; he was enduring it for the one person he'd ever met that had been selfless enough to sacrifice herself; she was worth suffering for. It was because of this that he couldn't bare her to think ill of him, he couldn't let her believe he was as evil and corrupt as the woman who sent him to kill her in the first place.

Snow sat back, her hand over her mouth, tears forming in eyes. She stared at the Huntsman, her eyes moving from his eyes to his chest where his heart used to lay and back to his eyes. She pulled her hand away from her gaping mouth and wiped away her tears before hugging the Huntsman tightly.

"Thank you. Thank you. I had no idea she had done that to you. I'm so sorry." She whispered.

"Snow please, you owe me nothing." The Huntsman stated sincerely as he released the hug.

"Huntsman… I can't let you take this boy back to her." Snow said as she moved over to the boy smiling at him and untying his hands.

"What choice do I have Snow? If I let you take him back… I can't Snow I just can't."

Snow thought about it as she helped the boy up and rubbed some of the dirt off of his knees and elbows. She looked up into the eyes of the man sent to kill her and knew she couldn't be the reason for his suffering any more.

"I can't let this boy be lead to the Queen… But I can't let you suffer from my actions any more either. Maybe we can come up with a plan… What does the Queen want with him exactly?" She asked

The Huntsman looked down briefly then side to side very briefly as if he felt guilty divulging the Queens plans.

"From what I could gather she wants to boy to collect an object, I don't know where from. But she said… Snow she said this object was to, well it was to be the undoing of you." He said timidly and quietly, his eyes never leaving hers.

"And this task… I'm assuming it'll be dangerous for him. Otherwise she would have collected him herself rather than cowering away in her castle." Snow asked angrily, disregarding the danger to herself.

"She didn't say much but.. Yes I'd say so. I've heard rumours that the Queen wants a scroll from a witch called Maleficent. I don't know if this is what it is but I do know that she has sent some knights in there and none have come back. Maybe she's going to try a child.."

"That'll be it then. Well. We'll just have to make sure that the boy escapes before he reaches the castle. That way it won't be your fault." Snow said confidently as she rubbed the shoulders of the now quivering boy.

As the three walked back to the Queens palace, Snow and the Huntsman hatched a plan. The Huntsman knew that the Queen would send a couple of guards to take the boy to the castle so all they had to do was eliminate them on the way and the boy could run free. So it was settled; Snow would attack the guards, the boy would run home and the Huntsman would be sitting in his chambers completely oblivious and innocent as to the child's escape. The boy was told to pretend nothing had happened and that if he stuck to the plan, he would be able to go back to his home in no time… assuming everything went well.


End file.
